by BERNAMA/ pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

PAKATAN Harapan (PH) components Parti Amanah Negara and DAP are hoping that former Prime Minister (PM) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (picture), PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Parti Warisan Sabah can find a common ground to resolve the issue of who will be the Opposition’s PM candidate.

Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng said in a joint statement that the two PH partners had been working tirelessly for the last three months to find a common ground acceptable to all in the Opposition alliance on the PM candidate, but had yet to succeed.

“We hope PKR (the other component in PH) and Tun (Dr Mahathir), together with (our) ally Warisan, will not fall further apart, but instead come together to show a united front,” they said.

Only by doing this could PH regain the mandate given to them by the people in the 14th General Election (GE14), they added.

The statement comes in the wake of PKR rejecting the choice of Dr Mahathir being the PM if the PH were to form the government again.

Dr Mahathir, who was PH chairman, quit as Malaysia’s seventh PM after PH lost its majority in Parliament in February. PH took over Putrajaya after winning GE14 in May 2018.

This happened after Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and a faction in PKR pulled out of PH. Dr Mahathir, who was Bersatu chairman, also quit his party.

Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin then tied up with Umno-led Barisan Nasional, PAS and a few other parties to form the new government called Perikatan Nasional.

He was sworn in as the nation’s eighth PM on March 1.